Christmas Sales Already?! [#SAVETHANKSGIVING]

The other day while walking around a store, I saw Christmas decorations out for sale, as well advertisements for December holiday specials. The only problem is, it’s the middle of October, and we still have over two months until Christmas. It seems like stores begin advertising for the holiday season earlier and earlier every year, but how early is too early?

Before I say anything else, I know why retailers advertise early for holiday sales. It is, by far, the top grossing holiday in terms of sales and profit. According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales are expected to reach 465.6 Billion dollars this year, almost have a trillion. In today’s world, the words “billion” and “trillion”are tossed around like they are nothing. Think about this though, a billion seconds is about 32 years. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years. We are 2011 C.E. right now, a trillion seconds ago was 30,000 B.C.E. Now you see that we are talking about a substantial amount of money on the line here. They also estimate that almost 500,000 seasonal employees will be hired strictly to handle the increased workload of the holiday season.

What About Halloween and Thanksgiving?

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So now we know why retailers begin preparing for the holiday season so early, but is it right? We still have two holidays between then and now, Halloween and Thanksgiving. The sad part is, both of those holidays have been subject to corporate sales pitches as well. Halloween is the prime time for candy companies to sell their products, and they begin advertising at the end of summer. Many stores begin selling costumes because they know they will sell them, I’ve even seen costumes sold at convenient stores of all places. Thanksgiving is the same way, every year “watch the NFL on Thanksgiving” is pounded into our minds. A corporation, the NFL, has made their business part of a holiday tradition. I love football as much as anyone, but it’s scary how much influence one company has over us.

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Do You Max Out Your Credit Card?
I fear that Christmas is becoming the same way. Sure, it’s nice to give and receive gifts around the holiday season, but can we be reasonable? There’s no reason someone should max out their credit cards or put themselves in debt just because it’s Christmas. The season once dedicated to being thankful for what we have, friends, family, and health, has turned into shopping mania and wish lists composed in October.

Let’s Slow Down, People!
In my family, we’ve always had the tradition that the holiday season began after Thanksgiving had ended. I mean, how can someone get in the holiday spirit if there’s no snow on the ground? I understand why retailers worry about Christmas sales so much, but I wish for once we could all just slow down and take it one day at a time, or one holiday at a time.

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